Fall in Love this Christmas
by TheFreshApple
Summary: 25 songs, 25 stories.  All leading up to a Star Trek Christmas Day. So many pairings! Namely: Spock/Uhura, McKirk, JoPavel. Rated for possible language and implications.
1. 335

**Disclaimer can be found on author's personal page.**

**Title:** Fall in Love this Christmas

**Summary: **25 songs, 25 stories. All leading up to a Star Trek Christmas Day.

**A/N:** I bought Michael Bublé's _Christmas_ album… Oh, my gosh. I listened through the whole dang thing (after Thanksgiving, of course!) and decided that if I wasn't going to be able to write anything else, I had to do this. Some of these songs will be from the _Christmas_ album, and some of them will be from other holiday song sources. I'll put up a playlist at the end. Happy Holidays, y'all!

STXMAS-STXMAS-STXMAS

_December 1_

It began without warning.

Uhura noticed the Captain's…oddity while debriefing him on the body language of Tyrr'an natives. He was paying attention, sure, but his eyes refused to stay focused, and his foot simply wouldn't remain still. Once or twice, she even thought she heard humming.

She thought it was ridiculous, even for Kirk, and suggested that Spock investigate the matter further.

The First Officer made a valiant effort to understand the Captain's emotionally-driven moods on a daily basis, but this was almost beyond the logic of a Vulcan mind. The Captain, while always maintaining an air of positivity in order to boost crew morale was downright _giddy._

Thinking his Captain ill, Spock suggested that Dr. McCoy inspect their leader, to prevent the sickness from spreading.

Len called Jim into his office that evening, shaking his head at Spock's message: _"…signs of euphoria…inability to remain stoic…frightens Ensigns with overwhelming cheer…"_ The good doctor was well aware of the Captain's change in attitude.

December had begun, and not just any December. This was the first December in almost four years that hadn't been leading into another year of the mission. This December was IT: the end of a mission and the beginning of a nice, cushy shore leave (a.k.a. two months of recuperation before Star Fleet sent them all out again, but who was Leonard McCoy to complain?)

Only Len knew this news, because he just so happened to share quarters with the Captain and Jim had shared said news with him last night while they caught their respective breaths.

"_We may even be home in time for Christmas, Bones. Think about it: our first Christmas together on Earth. You, me, Jo…it'll be a real family holiday, y'know? Just don't tell any of the crew yet; I don't want to get their hopes up so soon." _

It had taken all of Len's stubbornness not to tell Spock _exactly_ why Jim was acting so peculiarly. Quite frankly, he didn't want to think about the possibility, not until the confirmation was in his inbox.

But when Jim came waltzing into his office at 1900 hours with a grin the size of the Mississippi pasted on, Len couldn't help but crack a grin. When Jim crowded him against his desk and kissed him silly whilst humming, Len couldn't hold back a small chuckle that turned into muffled guffaws when Jim started dancing around his office, singing quietly all the while:

"_You better watch out. You better not cry! You better not pout, I'm tellin' you why: Captain Kirk is coming to town!" _


	2. 336

_December 2_

"Merry Christmas, gentlemen!"

Sulu and Chekov plastered themselves against the hallway walls as Uhura came dashing by, dark hair streaming out behind her like the tail of a comet. Finding his voice barely in time, Sulu called out:

"Merry Christmas, Lieutenant!"

He was too late; the latter vanished around the corner, leaving two more confused crew members in her wake.

Chekov gaped at Sulu with wide green eyes. "But Christmas is still days away."

Sulu just shook his head, mystified. "I'm just as confused as you, man."

STXMAS-STXMAS-STXMAS

The Bridge was confused. Not the actual space itself, but rather the members of Alpha shift. First the Captain and his cheery mood; now, Lieutenant Uhura was hummingat her station. Honest-to-deities _humming_. Sulu tried not to glance over at Chekov, knowing that if their eyes met, dooming giggles would ensue. He wasn't proud of the fact that two grown men still giggled, but listening to Lieutenant Uhura called for giggles. Plain and simple.

Sulu was convinced Uhura had information that had yet to be disclosed to the crew. Why else would she and Captain Kirk be so chummy all of a sudden? Not to mention the fact that Kirk and Spock hadn't had a "debate" over emotional tactics versus logical planning all morning. The Command crew was always the first to know juicy details, and then Uhura, because she was [romantically] involved with the First Officer. The woman had divine abilities when it came to finding out what was going on in the ship.

Normally, however, Uhura was kind enough to share the goods with the rest of the crew, but no such luck so far. It had just been snippets of humming and smiles and disgustingly good cheer.

Sulu turned back to the controls, trying to refocus on flying the ship.

A few moments later, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Pavel's expression was downright devilish as he whispered:

"Hikaru. You, too, are humming. It's very distracting."

Resisting the urge to fall out of his chair in a defeated slump, Sulu shrugged apologetically and turned back to his controls, but not before seeing Captain Kirk's smug grin. Sulu let out a tiny groan as he adjusted the thrusters.

_Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh, what fun it is to ride in a starship every day._


	3. 337

_December 3_

Jim couldn't decide the best way to go about the telling. Bones already knew, of course, and Spock. Uhura knew because Spock, for all his pointy-eared stoicism, couldn't keep his damn mouth shut around her. The rest of the crew, on the other hand, had yet to have their day made by the glorious news that the _Enterprise_ would be orbiting Earth for the holidays. This was why Jim was having a hard time deciding on the best way to spread the news. He couldn't decide if he wanted to tell the Alpha team first and watch all their faces transform with happiness, or make a ship-wide announcement from his quarters and venture out later to experience the joy, or if he wanted to start a rumor only to confirm it later.

It was a tough decision, to be sure, but Jim Kirk was the Captain. Captains made tough decisions all the time.

"Attention, crew of the _Enterprise_. This is your captain speaking." Determined not to meet Spock's eye and give the surprise away before he had even gotten to the good part, Jim kept his eye level with the comm screen in front of him. He saw Sulu and Chekov both swivel in their chairs to look at him and fought the ever-strengthening urge to grin.

"As you all know, our mission, while important to Star Fleet and this captain, has kept us away from a Christmas at home for four years. That being said, I know you all will join me in brotherhood and positivity this holiday season." He paused for dramatic effect, just to be a bastard, really. He knew they all thought they knew what was coming next; for four years, they had been down this road before.

Jim finally allowed himself a tiny smirk and closed his eyes. "We're going to need it to make it home in time for Christmas."

If silence could deafen, Jim Kirk would have sworn that he lost all hearing that day. A pin could have dropped on the Bridge and sounded as loud as plasma cannon shot. He could feel the disbelief and hope seeping in and chuckled.

"This is not a joke, people. The higher-ups gave the green light. Call your families and make your arrangements. We're going home. Kirk out."

Arranging himself in the Captain's chair, Jim looked down at a gaping Chekov. "Mr. Chekov, set our course for the Milky Way, if you please." The former grinned at a beaming Sulu. "A little sightseeing might do all of you nonbelievers some good before we go home."

"Aye, Captain!" Sulu saluted – _actually saluted_ – and quickly typed out a message to Engineering to prepare for warp as Chekov entered the coordinates into the ship's navigation.

Jim could feel the happy tension vibrating in the air, and even jumped a little when his personal comm buzzed with a message.

**LMcCoy:** _You overdramatic bastard. Chapel was on the verge of tears, thinking we weren't going home this year._

Chuckling to himself, Jim just shook his head and breathed a content sigh.

**JKirk: **_Feliz Navidad, Bones._


	4. 338

_December 4_

_Beep beep. Beep beep. _

"Ngh. Kiera. Get the vid." Dark brown hair disappeared even further under a forest green duvet.

_Beep beep. _

"Kiera! VID!"

"Joanna, it is not mine!" A beautiful young woman with green skin stuck her head out of the bathroom. "You have a call."

"Goddamn!" Jo McCoy was out of bed and in her desk chair before Kiera could even disappear back into the bathroom. The Orion native watched, amused, as Jo haphazardly threw on a jacket and pulled her hair back into a lopsided ponytail. Jo looked up, caught Kiera shaking her head, and scowled. "What?"

"You mystify me. You know it is Pavel calling; why not put on something sexy?" Kiera winked, shrugging her shoulder. "Your navigator is quite adorable."

"Hey, hands off my man," Jo pointed, "and I can't wear somethin' sexy because the one time I did that, Sulu walked in the room and laughed at us," she trailed off with a mumble. "Shut up!" she exclaimed when Kiera disappeared into the bathroom, laughing.

_Beep beep._

"Aw, hell." Jo quickly typed in the answer code and pasted on a smile. "Hello, darlin'."

"What is wrong?" Pavel's face went from smiling to concern. "That is not your happy smile. That is your something is wrong smile."

Jo shook her head, unable to keep a true smile from slipping across her lips. "Darlin', the only thing wrong is that I'm a couple weeks away from finals and you're not here. But it's nothin' I haven't been livin' with."

For a moment, Jo could have sworn Pavel looked mischievous before he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Yes, well, you do not have much longer before you graduate and will join me here, among the stars."

"I can hardly wait." Suddenly shy, Jo reached up to toy with her ponytail. Looking away from the screen, her eye landed Pavel's Christmas present, just out of sight of the camera. The sight of it struck a chord in Jo and she directed a quirked eyebrow towards Pavel. "Speak of joinin', when _am_ I goin' to see you again?"

There it was again: that look of mischief, quickly followed by a trademark Pavel smile. "I was actually going to speak to you about that…"

"Oh no," Jo sighed, avoiding glancing at his present again. "I haven't shared a Christmas with you since we started dating, Pavel."

"I am aware of this, Joanna," he said, smirking, "but perhaps you will allow me to finish?"

Jo bit her lip. "Sorry." A sudden beeping from her computer made her jump and a smile, purer than Georgia sunshine, broke out across her face. "Hold that thought, darlin'."

"Your father," Pavel said. It wasn't a question. He was well aware that there was one man in the world who could make her smile like that, and accepted that it wasn't him. He was more than happy to settle for her next-largest grin.

Nodding, Jo held up two fingers. "Gimme just two seconds to see what he wants. I'll be back, I promise." Not even giving Pavel time to agree, Jo put him on hold and switched over to see her father in his office, looking a lot less grumpy than usual. "Hi, Daddy," she said happily, waving off Kiera when the latter looked out from the bathroom, alarmed.

"Hey, sugar," Leonard McCoy grinned at his baby. "You look like you just woke up."

"It's Sunday, Daddy. Day of rest? Remember?" Jo rolled her eyes. "You starship people have problems with sleepin' in or somethin'?"

"Just your father!" She heard Jim's voice in the background and gave her father "The McCoy": raised eyebrow, head tilt, skepticism written in every pore.

"I thought you two were bein' discreet."

Leonard shook his head, "McCoy-ing" someone off camera. "We're at work, Joanna Leigh. I know the meanin' of professionalism, at least." Jo heard someone snort and grinned at Jim's blatant dismissal of her father's unspoken admonition. Her grin sparked another smile in Leonard and they both grinned at each other like fools before Leonard shook his head and cleared his throat. "Sorry, baby, but I didn't just call to chat. I've got some important news for you, and I wanted to catch you before you went out with your…roommate." Jo ducked out of the frame long enough to make a face at Kiera, who was sticking her tongue out at an oblivious Leonard. It was a not-so-secret fact that Leonard McCoy did not favor certain aspects of the Orion culture, and believed a certain Orion cadet was a bad influence on his baby girl. Even if Jo did initiate half the trouble they found themselves in.

"Hello, Doctor McCoy," Kiera called as Jo stifled snickers out of sight. The latter could hear her father's long suffering sigh, and Jim's "Hi, Kiera!" in the background. Not wanting the vid chat to be all about Jim and Kiera's love of annoying Leonard, Jo popped back up, smoothing her hair back from her face. A blinking light on the bottom of her screen caught her attention.

"Hold onto that news for just a second. I have another call on hold." Jo quickly switched back to Pavel…who wasn't there.

"Pavel? Hello?"

"I will be right back!" His accent was thicker, telling Jo that he was caught up in something that diverted all of his attention.

"Okay!" she called, switching back over to Leonard…who was drumming his fingers on the desk. "Daddy, don't do that."

"Well, I call to tell you somethin' important, and you ditch me right off the bat. I raised you better."

The resultant eye roll made Jo's head hurt. "Oh, give it a rest. You are not the only man in my life, Daddy, a fact we established a few years ago, if you remember."

She was pretty sure she heard a mumbled, "I try not to," before a message popped up at the bottom of her screen. Ignoring the bickering match that was ensuing from Jim telling Leonard off, Jo opened the comm.

**PChekov: **_Would you like to know my news? _

Glancing up at her father, who was now red-faced and pointing vehemently at Jim, Jo smiled and typed: _Yes, please._

**PChekov: **_You will not have to live this Christmas alone, Joanna McCoy. We are coming home._

Jo's squeal brought Kiera running, and stopped all arguing on Leonard's end. Jo met her father's eyes with what she was sure was a feverishly happy look. "The _Enterprise_ is dockin' for Christmas?"

The confusion – followed by annoyance – that flickered across Leonard's face was amusing, and not without affection. "I'm gonna kill that damn kid," Leonard mumbled, "He got to you first."

A ding signaled another message, and Jo read it quickly before looking back to Leonard. "He's supposed to be on the Bridge in ten minutes, Daddy. You take forever to deliver news."

"That's not my fault!" Leonard began to object, but right then Jim appeared in the view screen, with a grin that only enhanced his charming good looks. "I need to be on the Bridge, too, Jojo, but we'll see you real soon. And I mean that." With a wink, he reached past the CMO and terminated the call.

Jo checked back on Pavel's window, but he was already gone. Spinning in her chair, she chuckled up at Kiera's mystified face. "They're comin' home," Jo drawled happily.

Kiera rolled her eyes, but her smile was blinding. A safe return for Star Fleet crews was always a cause for celebration.

_I'll be home for Christmas, you can plan on me._


	5. 339

_December 5_

"I do not understand. Why is it red?"

"It just is, Spock. That's part of the story."

"That is not logical."

Uhura threw up her hands, giving up. "Well, I don't know what to tell you. That's just how the story goes."

Spock arched a high eyebrow. "That is most unnatural. In proper physiology, it should be black. That is the appropriate color."

The two of them heard snickering before the Captain's head appeared around the corner. "Okay, I've been listening to this for, like, two minutes. What the _hell_ are you two talking about?"

Uhura shot him a dirty look. "Rudolph's nose."

Jim's lips pursed thoughtfully as he nodded. "Gotcha." They both looked over at Spock who was watching an ancient vid of a small reindeer with a red nose accepted Santa's request that he lead the sleigh through a thick fog. When the reindeer began to fly, Spock shook his head, eyebrows nearly meeting in the center of his forehead.

"Most illogical…"

The Captain snorted and disappeared, but not before Uhura heard him mutter, "Spock the pointy-eared Vulcan had a very scary scowl…"

She barely covered her laugh in time.

_Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, you'll go down in history_…


	6. 340

_December 6_

Once upon a time, Jo could remember when Christmases were celebrations.

It would start with midnight Mass before, and then straight to bed for Joanna. She would come down the stairs in the morning and the tree would be all lit up. Momma and Daddy would put away their scowls for a day and they would all pretend to be a family. Daddy would always get Momma jewelry (which she sold after the divorce), and Momma would get Daddy old, real paper books (which also got sold after the divorce.) They would all lounge around in the morning and watch old Christmas vids before the cooking started. While Jo and Daddy would hang out and play games, Momma would start pulling together the fixin's for shrimp gumbo, a McCoy family tradition.

Then, there was the divorce and Christmases weren't so celebratory any more. Sure, Momma made it as good as she could, but there was always a boyfriend around instead of Daddy and without Daddy, Christmas wasn't right.

When Jo went to college, she started celebrating Christmas her way at Stanford. She would spend time with who she wanted, and though the people nearest to her were often several light years away, she still felt blessed, because it was _her_ Christmas. When she went to the Academy, the bond between her and her family in the stars only grew and she looked forward to when she could share the holiday season with all of them.

So when Jocelyn called while Jo was memorizing dates leading up to the formation of the Federation, Jo only felt a little guilty telling her momma that she wouldn't be coming back to Georgia this year.

And sure, she hadn't been back to Macon for Christmas in…a really long time. And yes, it was probably about time she gave Christmas back to her mother. But when Joanna McCoy had run away from home at seventeen, she had run to the safest place she knew: her daddy's arms. That man hadn't let her down once since she left home, and she didn't intend to let him down this Christmas.

Of course, there was also Pavel: dear, sweet Pavel, who had been nothing but amazing to her ever since he had gotten over his fear of her father and admitted that he loved her, too. Jo couldn't possibly go home to Georgia now that the _Enterprise _was docking, and taking Pavel home for Christmas was out of the question.

It wasn't that she was ashamed of Pavel. In Jo's opinion, anyone who gave her crap about dating a Russian could kiss her Southern-belle ass. The summer after her first year at the Academy, when her mother's uncle had gone off on an uneducated rant about foreigners and how space travel was ruining everyone's life (with Pavel sitting on the other end of the couch) had worn Jo's patience thin for her family. She couldn't take the almost-alcoholics and Southern pride conservatives. It amazed her that people like that even still existed in the twenty-third century.

So she told her mother no: No thanks, Momma, I'm stayin' here. Because I don't feel much like spending Christmas with people who think I'm wastin' my life, and you don't want me to bring Pavel or Daddy, so I just don't see how we can make this work. Sorry, Momma, really. Tell everyone hey for me. Make up somethin' about school and trainin'. But I'm already home for Christmas.

_Hallelujah, everybody say cheese! Merry Christmas from the family._


	7. 341

_December 7_

"Do ya hear that, Captain?"

Kirk stopped as he was crossing under the water turbine, cocking an ear. It didn't really help, but it did make him look thoughtful and attentive to Scotty's quirks. When nothing became immediately apparent, he fixed the engineer with an expectant look. "What exactly am I supposed to be hearing, Mr. Scott?"

Scotty couldn't hide his smile from the captain. "Our lady, sir. _The Enterprise_ is ready to be home. I haven't heard a single ping, ding, or whir out of place since my shift started. She usually saves all of her trouble for me, Captain, but not todae. Todae, she's just as happy as any of us to be goin' home."

Grinning broadly, Kirk clapped Scotty soundly on the shoulder. "This is good news, Mr. Scott." Surveying the inner workings of his ship, Kirk sighed happily. "This is very good news, indeed."


End file.
